Be Christ's Reflection!

     We live in a world that is filled with confusion, deceit, anger, and fear. There are many influences that try to tear us apart and drag us down. The world has become this way because the people of the world have veered away from our Heavenly Father's guidance and by drifting away from Him, they walk in spiritual darkness and have to rely on their own limited knowledge and understanding in order to get by in the world. This also applies to marriages as well. Marriages are meant to be one of the greatest sources of happiness and strength we can have in life and Heavenly Father wants our marriages to thrive. However, to guarantee that marriages thrive, it's important for us to have a model to base our personal lives after so we can be the best spouses possible. Our perfect model to base ourselves on is Jesus Christ and if we reflect His actions and lifestyle, then we are guaranteed to experience greater happiness and satisfaction in all aspects in our lives, especially in our marriages. 

      In his book Drawing Heaven into Your Marriage, H. Wallace Goddard teaches that one of the most important elements for a marriage to thrive and be successful is charity, the pure love of Christ. Goddard joins the Savior's call to action for us to change the way we treat our spouses and to work to help our marriage evolve and become stronger. Charity is the key because it means to love as deeply as Jesus loves us and to devote ourselves to improving the lives of others just as He is determined to help us. To help us better understand what charity means and why it is important in our relationships, Goddard presents the thoughts of Elder Max Caldwell of the Seventy about charity. Elder Caldwell taught "The phrase 'love of Christ' might have meaning in three dimensions: Love for Christ, Love from Christ, and Love like Christ" (111). Our Savior Jesus Christ is the perfect role model and He works to guide us.

       Elder Caldwell and Goddard teach us that we need to love the Savior because our love for Him helps inspire us to be better and to please Him. When we feel His love for us, then we feel motivated to continue to do the right so we continue to feel close to Him and want to remain close in His love. Then, as we use His love as a foundation and a powerful source of motivation, we become more capable to love others as He loves us. We need to love our spouses like the Savior loves them because charity allows us to look past their imperfections and feel the desire to help them improve. Faith in Christ and loving our spouses like Christ will help us to change the quality of our relationships with our spouses and make our marriages stronger. If we reflect the Savior's love, then we will be able to help our marriages become powerful!